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Democrats Sense Glory Days Once More

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JOHN REINIERS, Special to Hernando Today

Published: February 16, 2008

It should not be difficult to understand the shock wave that reverberated through the Democratic universe when the Republicans gained complete control of the 105{+t}{+h} Congress (1995-97). Republicans remained in majority until the end of the Clinton presidency. (But they never had a bullet proof majority in the Senate.)

Think about it. The democrats lost after 40 years of rule, after practically owning the Congress for most of the 20{+t}{+h} century. This was the result of the Newt Gingrich Republican "revolution" of 1994, and the beginning of the divisiveness we now see between the parties. When you lose power, you can get pretty nasty. Some disagree and say the nastiness started with the Ronald Reagan presidency. But Reagan didn't have control of the Congress which is the real seat of power. (He had the Senate part of the time. But money bills are initiated in the House of Representatives.)

The party that controls Congress has the real "inside the beltway" power, controlling all the legislation, chairmanships of committees, staffing, and investigations. It also should be recognized that the Democrats have always "owned" the bureaucracy in Washington - all the agencies - with its federal unions with benefits and salaries the average taxpayer - who pays for this - can only dream about. Republicans come and go as agency political appointees, but civil service Democrats are forever. So when they had control of the Congress too, they ruled the political universe.

To get a better understanding of how traumatizing that loss of control of Congress was and why it still affects us today, ratchet down your thinking to the municipal level. Consider Chicago which has been a Democratic fiefdom forever. The Cook County Democrats commonly call the "Chicago machine," ruled from the 1930s through the 1970s. There were attempts at reform by the Democrats but the machine roots with its patronage exist today with Richard Daley.

Now, just imagine an election where the Republicans unseated the majority of the 50 alderman on the city council! You can't. No sane person - much less a Chicagoan - could have that kind of imagination. All big city political machines were and are ruled by Democrats, but no big city is so inherently Democratic, as is Chicago. The mayor - a Democrat - would effectively be neutered if the Democrats lost control.

Well, that's what the Republican revolution did to the Democrats inside the beltway in 1994. It was impossible, but it happened. Democrats were traumatized and believed they were disenfranchised. (Imagine if you were a faithful employee of a major corporation for 40 years; then suddenly fired for being incompetent. It would confound you, your family and friends.)

This was the beginning of the era of political rancor and divisiveness we still witness today, which was later exacerbated by the Bush 43 election in 2000 which simply added salt to the Democrats' wounds. For decades Republicans smiled dutifully, knew their place, and were at worst a back bench nuisance in the House. Newt Gingrich changed that. And then Bush got elected.

And all this was on Bill Clinton's watch, which could well be affecting the psyche of the Democrat voters in the ongoing primaries. The Clintons are associated with that loss of power, negative times and divisiveness. Barack Obama didn't have a fingerprint at that crime scene. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton are superb policy wonks. They know the nuts and bolts of the vast federal bureaucracy.

Obama doesn't have to prove he knows anything. (You can bet his staff has detailed policy analyses on just about everything.) He just stands there and smiles, gives the same brilliant stump speech over and over, and exudes optimism, while Mrs. Clinton drones on about her expertise while unfortunately reminding everyone of bad times past.

The closest time in history to the Obama phenomenon is not John F. Kennedy. It is more like the emergence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 campaign. Today's Democrats and the media have so beaten down America's optimism in recent years that the attitude, certainly that of Democrats, mirrors that of America when it was in the depths of the Great Depression.

But along came FDR who changed America forever into a socialist democracy. And all of this was commemorated at that memorable convention by its anthem "Happy Days are Here Again." Written in 1929 and often said to be a true saloon standard; it befits the times Democrats are envisioning in 2008 with Obama - more liberal than FDR - and not anything like JFK. And like that song, symbolizes good times to come for Democrats who will then once again have all that power.

The vision of "Happy Days" to come reminds me of a fairytale, and probably why young people adore Obama. But the vision of a Democratic sweep will probably become a political reality for Democrats, but an economic disaster for our country already bloated with earmarks and unsustainable entitlements. And these young Democratic idealists will be the ones who will ultimately be saddled with this mess in years to come - not Obama - or us.

John Reiniers, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.

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